The Milwaukee Brewers go into Monday's off day 12 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central and 7 1/2 games behind the Colorado Rockies in the wild-card race, although five teams are ahead of the Brewers there as opposed to two in the division.

So if there is a run still in the Brewers, it will have to start on the road Tuesday against the Cardinals, who will throw Joel Pineiro and his 3.11 earned-run average, then Chris Carpenter, one of the league's best pitchers, and what seems to be a revitalized John Smoltz.

That's coming off a 22-game stretch during which the Brewers played nothing but teams under .500 and finished 10-12. As things stand now, the Brewers play just six games against teams below .500 through the end of the regular season.

The Brewers are 23-24 against those remaining teams with six against the Cardinals and seven against the second-place Chicago Cubs.

"We've been struggling against the lesser teams, but maybe we'll turn around and beat the teams ahead of us," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said Sunday morning before adding he thinks the start of the run is a little overdue.

"I really thought it should have started sooner. I still think most of those teams (that made runs) did it with offense. Their offense caught fire. I think they did it more that way than with pitching."

Melvin was referring to teams that have made improbable late runs to qualify for the playoffs in recent years, like the Houston Astros in 2004 (20-7 in the final month to win the wild card) and Colorado Rockies in 2007 (14-1 in their last 15 games, including a one-game playoff, to get into the postseason).

But maybe that's some wishful thinking from Melvin, who wasn't able to bolster a rickety starting rotation at the trade deadline or since.

Backing off: Brewers manager Ken Macha will push ace Yovani Gallardo back a day because of Monday's day off, meaning he will next pitch Friday at Miller Park against the San Francisco Giants, one of the teams ahead of the Brewers in the wild-card standings.

Macha had been pitching Gallardo on normal rest even with off days in between, but because Gallardo is among the league leaders in pitches thrown and pitches thrown per inning - left-hander Manny Parra leads all of baseball in that category - the team will back him off.

There could be another tweak to the rotation the following week with Sept. 10 being another off day.

Macha said he isn't concerned about leaving Gallardo out of the Cardinals series since the three games against the Giants will be just as crucial.

"You have to be realistic," Macha said. "You have to look forward. If we do continue to pitch him and Parra all these pitches and they blow out with two weeks left in the season, what good is that?

"We just try to win as many games as we can."

Gerut settling in: Reserve outfielder Jody Gerut has looked much more comfortable during the month after an abysmal first two months with the Brewers, who traded Tony Gwynn Jr. to the San Diego Padres for him. Gerut is hitting .310 (13 for 42) with two homers and nine runs batted in during his last 27 games.

Gerut started in center field Sunday with Mike Cameron getting the day off, but Macha admitted he couldn't pick out any major changes Gerut has made to become more productive.

His swing, which Macha likes, hasn't changed much, but his pitch selection has gotten better and he's not pulling the ball as much. Also, Gerut is seeing more pitches, which was a problem when he first arrived and did a ton of first- and second-pitch swinging.

There is also something to be said about finally getting comfortable with a new team and more at-bats.

"You get a few hits, you get to play more," Macha said. "He was getting off early. When you try to pull and get out there, you're going to be aggressive and you wind up swinging at the first pitch."

Capuano's comeback: Brewers left-hander Chris Capuano, who had a second Tommy John reconstructive surgery on his left elbow in 2008, will join the rookie league club in Helena this week, Melvin said.

Capuano, who endured some setbacks during his rehabilitation that made it take much longer than expected, missed all of 2008 and most of this season before making three appearances (two earned runs in three innings) with the Brewers' rookie club in the Arizona League.